Sins of Past Lives
by Half-Finished Fics
Summary: When a new old game is plugged into Litwak's, it's main character is in for a surprise when he finds that his game has been here before, and was in fact infamous. As he tries to figure out why everyone is avoiding him, and struggle to make his own path and earn the trust of the others in the arcade, a past version simply will not die.
1. New old game

Lights flashed around the penthouse, 8-bit music blared from speakers unseen.

Laughter, conversation, food, it was perfect.

"Thirty-one years of gaming, eh?" Felix leaned against a wall, glass in hand. "First time we've actually invited you to one of these. I do feel bad about that…"

"Yep." Said Ralph. He was scrunched up a bit, so as not to break anything, but he was happy to be there nonetheless. "But hey, I'm here now. Feels like I haven't missed a thing."

"To wrecking, fixing, and everything that's made this game tick since 1982!"

The two of them raised and drained their drinks.

"Whoo! Getting a little tipsy!" Felix's eyes crossed and then reasserted themselves. "This stuff from Tapper's is serious stuff…"

A girlish giggle came from behind him. A small child with candy in her hair popped up. "You DO realize you've been drinking soda-pop, right?" She giggled again.

Felix stared down into his glass. "I guess I have…" he said. "Still a bit wobbly though."

Ralph laughed. "Only you, Felix. Only you…"

"Goody-two-shoes." Said Vanellope.

"Indeed I am!" Said Felix. "Say, have you seen where Tamora went to?"

"I think I saw her over with the Galaga pilots." Said Ralph.

"Ah. Bugfighters club." Said Felix. "Course we've had a bit of that ourselves." He chuckled.

"A bit?" Asked Vanellope. "Those things almost ate my game."

"Well, y'know…" Said Felix.

"Whatever." Said Vanellope. "Say Ralph, have you gotten a good look at the new game while you were getting thrown off the roof?"

The new game. It was a thing of fascination and mystery to every character in the arcade. The room had been rearranged so as to make more space, and many characters claimed to have seen a cloth-covered game cabinet behind the employees only door.

"No I haven't." Said Ralph. "Have you?"

"Well I wouldn't be asking ya if I did." Said Vanellope. "I heard it's another one of those REALLY old games, like yours."

"Gee, thanks…" Said Ralph. Felix just laughed.

"You know what I mean." Vanellope giggled. "But yeah, one of those 'retro' ones." She did air-quotes.

"It makes sense." Observed Felix. "I mean after all, we've gotten so -hic- popular when we added all those gameless characters."

Indeed they had. Fix-It-Felix Jr. had become one of the most played games in the arcade. Right up there with Donkey Kong and Pac-man. In turn, Niceville's penthouse was a popular destination for nighttime game-jumpers.

Vanellope giggled again. "You're funny too, mister." She said.

"Yes I am." Said Felix matter-of-factly. "Saved the lives of me and my lovely wife in your game."

"Pffft." Said Vanellope. "It wouldn't have been a problem if you knew what you were doing. You don't step on double-stripes!"

Felix opened his mouth to retort, but Ralph intervened. "So Vanellope, how's it feel being able to move out of your game?"

"It feels GREAT!" She pumped her fist. Long ago, she had been princess of Sugar Rush. When, however, the renegade Turbo snuck into her game, he had tried to delete her programming, throwing her out of the main web of code, in order to make himself the inconspicuous ruler of the game. When disconnected, she had become a glitch, an anomaly, and was trapped inside Sugar Rush. Only last year did she finally get the chance to race, and by crossing the finish line, restore the game, and herself in it. She decided to keep herself as she was as a glitch, powers and all, but occasionally would switch to her princess form if she wanted to leave her game.

"Hey guys." An orange ghost drifted up to them.

"Hey Clyde." Acknowledged Ralph.

"Look, I think Litwak's is about to open soon." He said. "People may want to get back to their games soon."

"This IS my game." Said Felix.

"He means me, goofball." Said Vanellope. She began to walk towards the door. "See ya!"

Clyde nodded. "And Calhoun."

Felix's eyes widened. "Oh!" he exclaimed. "See you at opening time, Ralph!" he sprang over to the other side of the penthouse.

"One game at a time, eh Clyde?" Said Ralph, turning his attention to the ghost.

"One game at a time." Said Clyde. "Listen, have you heard all this hubbub about the new game? I hear it's being plugged in this morning."

"Really?" Said Ralph.

"Really." Said Clyde. "Shame we can't get to see it until after closing time, though."

"Yeah…" Said Ralph.

"But I hear maybe Q*Bert might be taking a day off the minigame to check it out."

"Really?"

"Yeah, might even tell us between games."

The penthouse was slowly emptying.

"Better go." Said Clyde, and floated out the door.

It was now just the Nicelanders left.

"Where's Felix?" Asked Ralph. "Arcade's about to open." He walked around the room, they were nowhere to be seen. "Felix?" He called, sticking his head out the door.

Felix and Calhoun were in the middle of a long, deep kiss.

"Oh." Said Ralph.

The two broke apart.

"See you at closing, sweetie." Felix smiled up at her.

"Same to you." Said Calhoun. "You fix this building, you hear me?"

"I will ma'am." He saluted her. "And you go kick some Cy-bottom."

He watched her leave, smiling dreamily.

"You ready, buddy?" Asked Ralph.

"Indeed I am!" Felix sprang forwards to face him.

Ralph playfully punched him in the shoulder.

The Nicelanders peered out of the room when they heard Felix's death music play, and the sound of him regenerating. "I'm okay!" He peered out of the perfect Felix-shaped hole in the wall, fixed it with a hammer tap, and followed Ralph down the elevator to their starting positions.

"Sorry about that…" Said Ralph.

"Don't mention it it's not a problem!" Squeaked Felix, more than a little crammed due to the bulk of his colleague. "Besides, needed a good knock to get the soda out of my system. Don't want to be laggy for the players!" The two walked out of the building and both to their separate starting positions. Ralph by the dump, and Felix somewhere way over stage right that Ralph really hadn't seen much of.

The hours were then occupied with wrecking, fixing, jumping, pie-grabbing, and the pings and beeps from other arcade systems and the clink of quarters in the machine.

Finally, the last gamer left and the doors were locked. Ralph picked himself up out of the mud, brushing it off his clothes.

Felix pranced down the building, medal flopping around and glinting gold, and hopped down towards him. "You doing alright?" He asked.

"Yep." Said Ralph. "Aside from being thrown off a building, you know." He laughed.

Felix laughed along with him, although somewhat nervously, as though not sure as to whether he should or not. "Anyway." He presented a pie to him.

"A pie?" Asked Ralph, taking it. "Thanks!"

"No problem." Felix smiled. "Heading down to Game Central Station, wanna come?"

"Yeah." Said Ralph. "Supposedly that new game got plugged in today."

"Did it now?" Said Felix. "Aw well then we've got to go!" he hopped towards the exit train, Ralph lumbering behind, munching the pie.

The wind whipped their hair as they traveled through the cables and pulled into the station. Felix flew past the security guard and towards the Hero's Duty outlet, Ralph getting caught behind for yet another security check.

"&*%^&^&$%^!" An orange… thing… came barreling out of a newly added plug, shouting its nonsense.

"Whoa! Q*Bert!" Ralph picked up the creature, where it's legs continued running even though they were not touching anything.

"(!#&$(*!&(*#$&%^&%&^ !&" It shrieked.

"I can't even… What are you saying?" Ralph had never been good at Quebertise.

" #*&^$^&* #$!" It garbled.

"I honestly have no idea what you're saying." He said. "Could you maybe…" Motion it out? The thing only had two limbs and a trunk. Write it, maybe? Ralph borrowed a pad of pen and paper he found sitting on a bench, handing it to Q*Bert.

'! *()&%$^ !*&($%^ !(*#&^$%&* $^%! (*#&%$&*^! %*& !( *#&$*) ^$#&*%^! &(*' He wrote.

"Well that's helpful." Said Ralph, letting Q*Bert go, where he continued running. "Wonder what's got him so fussed…" He walked over towards the new plug. Didn't seem threatening. It hadn't gotten a nameplate yet, but that was no big deal.

A pinprick of light appeared far down the cable, slowly growing larger and larger as it came closer. He could see the silhouettes of the characters on the train, and slowly, their features.

He gasped and backed away when he saw who was on it. As the train slowed and stopped, others saw and stared as well.

The title character stepped off of the train, eyes roving over the whole station.

"Mama Mia…" Exclaimed Mario.

Felix pressed through, trying to see what the fuss was about. He froze, mouth falling open. "You're… You're…" he stuttered.

The newcomer grinned a sly smile, readjusted his racing helmet and cried his catchphrase. "Turbo-TASTIC!"


	2. Don't shoot!

**Hey all! Thank you for the reviews and such, I've got the honeyglows now :3**

**I got a request to put in the "Turbotwins." I was definitely curious about including Turbotime's NPCs, and they shall make more of an appearence. Just one question, what is their generally accepted fanon names/personality? Or is it something I can just make up without disappointing anyone?**

**Anyhoo... Enjoy reading (though you are also allowed to hate it :P) and tell me what you thought, got any ideas/suggestions/whatnot, and perhaps answer my turbotastic question.**

**(Also, sorry for the major formatting mess-up when I first posted this!)**

"But you're Turbo..." Felix's arms hung limp at his sides as he stared in disbelief.

"Yeah, that's my catch-phrase." Turbo grinned and crossed his arms, watching as more and more characters did double takes to stare at him. Oddly, the tense attention didn't seem to bother him. In fact, he seemed to be enjoying his welcome. He laughed.

"But that's not possible." said Felix once more. "YOU'RE not possible."

Turbo took this as a sort of compliment, and brushed off the front of his racing suit. "I know, I know." he said.

"how did you survive?" asked Ralph.

"Survive?" asked Turbo. "Survive what? Is there something I need to know about these trains?" He looked back at the car he arrived in.

"You know very well what I mean." said Ralph. "Sugar Rush? Cybugs?"

Turbo shook his head. "Sorry, I haven't a clue what you're talking about. I only just got plugged in this morning!"

"That game-wrecking cheat-coding cowardly son of a glitch!" Calhoun shoved her way through the crowd and fired a few rounds at Turbo, who leaped out of the way and hid inside one of the train carts. The angry soldier chased after him, pointing the gun at the figure determinedly curled up under the seat. "What do you have to say for yourself!" she snapped.

"Don't shoot!" he squeaked.

"Give me one good reason." she growled.

Felix stepped up cautiously behind her. "Sweetie..." he began, but startled with the ferocity with which she turned around. "I think..." he started once more. "I think he's a different one than what we delt with before."

"What do you mean?" asked Calhoun.

"Turbotime is the new game that was just plugged in! Completely different console! Completely different him!" Reasoned Felix as quickly he could while Calhoun rounded on Turbo, who was sneaking out from his hiding place as her back was turned.

"Is this true?" she barked.

"Yes!" cried Turbo. "I just told you! I just got plugged in! My game is back there!" He jerked his head at the tunnel leading off behind him. "You can see for yourself, if you like!" he smirked. "I'll race you." he suggested.

Ralph, who was standing a bit dumbstruck, remembered Q*Bert's paper. He handed it over to Felix. "Can you read this gobbledegook?"

His game partner took the paper, muttering it aloud as he read it. "He's telling the truth." he folded it up. "Q*Bert saw it himself."

Calhoun simply glared at the red and white clad racer. A polite cough behind her snapped her out of it. "What?" she demanded of the Surge Protector.

The electrical guard looked down at her gun, and then gave her a pointed look. The sergeant rolled her eyes and handed over the weapon, which dissolved into code and allowed Surge to pocket it easily. He then turned to the others. "Move along, move along." he said. And, slowly, very slowly, the characters began to go their separate and wary ways. They milled as if importantly through the station, if only just to stare a little longer, before the station went dead empty. Electronic music echoed around, mingling with advertisements and PSAs.

"Well that was interesting." said Turbo, a suggestion of a lisp creeping into his voice. "Where are they all off to? Arcade is closed for the day."

Serge was scribbling notes on a clipboard. "Probably went back to their separate games." he said.

"What about you?" asked Turbo.

"I live in the power strip."

"Oh. That can't be much fun."

"I assure you it isn't. Everybody hates me. Though it's consoling that everybody hates you too." Serge continued his scribbling.

"Hates me? Yes I'd say they were in awe when I came in here but nobody seemed to hate me. Except that tall lady with the gun." Turbo gave a shudder. "By the way, who was the construction worker?"

"That was Fix-It Felix Jr."

"From what game? Or, should I say where did he go?"

"Fix-It Felix Jr."

"Well that makes sense." said Turbo. "Guess I shouldn't have asked... Anyway." He turned back to the cart. Two previously unnoticed characters sat inside, away from the scene that had been there moments earlier. They were wearing identical uniforms, similar to Turbo's, except blue. "You two go explore or whatever." said Turbo. "I'm gonna see if I can find the guy that kept my head from being blown off."

The two nodded, got out, and made their way through the station, casually looking at the names of different games, until he was sure the two of them were fine walking around. Turbo then walked down the row of outlets, eyeing the nameplates. Row after row of game he did not yet recognize, until he reached a large plaque bearing the words "Fix-It Felix Jr." Well then, there it was.

He climbed into the cart leading into the game, and was whisked through the cables and soon stepped off at the small station. To his left was a glowing street of apartments, strangely not within view of the player's screen, which loomed like a moon over the building on the right. A lone apartment more towering than the others. This was obviously the stage of the game the players saw, and he made his way towards it.

While the bright sun and pavement and the sound of crowds was where Turbo knew he belonged, he couldn't help but find the well-kept lawn and gardens peaceful in what he assumed was an eternal nighttime. He flicked back and forth between liking it, and it making him nervous. He stepped up to the main door, when he heard footsteps behind it. The door was opening when he recognized who it was.

Turbo dived inside a shrub as Felix and the gun-toting amazon strolled down the front steps.

"I don't get it." huffed the gruff lady. "why would anyone in their darn right mind plug that maniac back in?"

"They don't know any of the drama." said Felix. "all they knew was that the original game had a character missing."

"Still my point, why plug in a defective game?"

"it's not the original cabinet. Litwak got rid of the old one." said Felix. "obviously they're hoping this one doesn't have the same 'problem'" he made air quotes.

"Still, that game came out at the same time as yours. For it to come back after twenty odd years of obscurity is pretty beaver dam unlikely."

They were walking out of earshot. Turbo snuck out of the shrub, growling of errors as it made a sharp 8-bit BOOP when it sprang back to position. He froze, waiting for them to turn around. They didn't. He followed them.

"But it makes perfect sense if you think about it." said Felix. "I mean, this ol game here has been getting a lot of attention recently. Litwak is just trying to give his gamers more of what they're wanting with one popular around the same time as my heyday started."

Warrior woman sighed, and rubbed the sides of her head. "I'm going back to my quarters." she said. "to think" she further clarified, and began to make her way back to the game exit.

"I love you." said Felix.

"Love you too, retro." she walked out of soon as he was entirely sure she was gone, Turbo stepped out of the shadows and cleared his handyman jumped, literally ten feet in the air. He landed squarely facing Turbo. "T-Turbo!" he exclaimed. "what are you doing here? In this... My... Not your game?"

"Is there some rule against visiting other games?" Turbo crossed his arms.

"No! I mean as long as you're not... No." said Felix, taking his hat off and twirling it. "But really, why are you here?"

"Bit of a newbie to this arcade." Turbo looked around himself. "I get the impression there are a lot of things I'm supposed to know but no one will tell me what they are."

"So... You want me to?" asked Felix.

"Well, I figured I could count the guy who kept that crazy commando from killing me as someone I could trust." said Turbo. "who WAS that terrifying lady?"

"My wife." said Felix.

Turbo opened and closed his mouth. "Really? I mean you...? But you're only 8-bit... And she is..." he whistled.

Felix smiled fuzzily. "isn't she just?"

Turbo cleared his throat, wanting to get away from this subject. "Anyhow, care to let me in on the secrets of the arcade?"

"There isn't much to know." said Felix in a slightly high voice. "I mean," he changed to normal. "There's... Yeah... Games... You can visit them, just you've gotta be back to yours by the morning, and um..."

"Um...?" pressed Turbo. "for one thing, it seems my game has been here before?"

Felix nodded. "Same time mine came out."

"What happened to it?"

Felix opened and closed his mouth. "The code got messed up." he let it go at that.

"So, any other games you recommend stopping by? Maybe something with more variety in racetracks?"

"Well, there's Sugar Rush for racing." said Felix. "Don't be jealous of the graphics or anything," he said quickly. "People will still love your game."

Turbo chuckled. "why WOULDN'T they love my game?" he asked. "Thanks for the tip, though." he said, turning to leave. "By the way," he said, turning back. "What's with the Felix Jr? Was there ever like a Felix Sr or something?"

For the first time, something like the cousin of a dark look passed over the face of the cheery yet oddly nervous handyman. "There was." he said, leaving it at that.

Turbo bit his lip as he walked towards the game exit. More unanswered questions.


	3. Limbo

**Hey y'all! Thank you for the continued views, answered questions, and pointing out that continuity error that is now fixed.  
Piston and Shift sound okay for twins? (They'll probably pop up in the next chapter or so)  
****I deeply, deeply apologize for anyone who knows code beyond the new Minecraft launcher and a few Java tutorials.  
****Anyhoo... New chapter, the plot THICKENS! Lemme know if you've got any good ideas for the continuation of the story, or any other sorts of things. I love you all!**

_gameupdate  
__checkstatuskingcandyturbo(living)  
__false  
__runrespawn  
__error. script not found_

_gameupdate_  
_checkstatuskingcandyturbo(living)_  
_false_  
_runrespawn_  
_error. script not found_

_gameupdate_  
_checkstatuskingcandyturbo(living)_  
_false_  
_runrespawn_  
_error. script not found_

_gameupdate_  
_checkstatuskingcandyturbo(living)_  
_false_  
_runrespawn_  
_error. script not found_

So. This was what Hell felt like.

_gameupdate_  
_checkstatuskingcandyturbo(living)_  
_false_  
_runrespawn_  
_error. script not found_

A painful limbo of eternally looping code. The script, of course, had in fact once been there, but it had been deleted upon Vanellope's corssing of the finish line.

_gameupdate_  
_checkstatuskingcandyturbo(living)_  
_false_  
_runrespawn_  
_error. script not found_

It was, really, quite a bit of really, really bad timing. He wished he had died AFTER the reset of the code, and been peacefully deleted like he should have been so many long years ago. Instead, he had been eaten by a Cybug, which had confused the game to no end. While it tried to process what to do with this, the Cybug version of him had been killed. Finally, the game sort of had an idea of what to do, and began the sequence.

_gameupdate_  
_checkstatuskingcandyturbo(living)__  
_

But then the brat got her car and the finish line fixed

_false_

But just before the game could run his respawn script, she had finished the race.

Reset his coding.

_error. script not found_

In theory, it should have been over at that moment. It wasn't. Probably because the sequence was already in motion. By the game's logic, it needed to be finished before it was deleted. It made sense. Keep the game from being corrupted. Or perhaps it was some glitch caused by his meddling, or just inherent of the game.

Either way, it was incomplete. The script needed to respawn him didn't exist anymore, and there was no way it could possibly get back unless someone extensively hacked it in, as was done originally. Unfortunately, he was in no position to do so.

The game however, didn't care.

_gameupdate_  
_checkstatuskingcandyturbo(living)_  
_false_  
_runrespawn_  
_error. script not found_

He was a ghost in the machine, trapped in between deletion and life, feeling as every one and zero which made up his form was slowly turning to poison.

All he wanted was for someone to unplug this cursed game and him with it.

He suddenly felt something strange. Oddly more solid, and a bit more like being alive.

After a year. Three hundred sixty five days. 8,760 hours. 525,600 minutes. 31,536,000 seconds. And more times looping the same code over and over and OVER than he would care to count… Something had changed.

The only blessing of his curse was the ability to see all of the game, he focused in on every part of the sickeningly sugary world. Noting new, nothing new, nothing…

His gaze swept over the main entrance, and saw something that didn't belong.

It shocked him so much that for a microsecond, the endless error stopped. It picked back up again right after that, though. He peered closer at the stocky figure entering the game.

His shape, his color scheme, he would bet his kart that the newcomer had his voice too.

He was going to bet his existance that he had his code.

With a push of newfound energy, he set about changing things. Minute things. Things he could control, things that could restore him without the overhaul he was incapable of preforming.

Oh. This was going to be glorious. King Candy, formally Turbo, laughed for the first time in a long time.

**-oOoOoOoOoOoOoOo-**

Turbo was stunned at the extensiveness of the world around him. At the COLOR. At the DETAIL. Of so much candy to give even a video game character a cavity.

He stepped further in. This was a racing game? He caught something that looked like track in the distance as he walked towards what looked like a set of stands.

He supposed so. But it would make for a very problematic racing game in his opinion. After all, if you make an edible track, somebody would probably end up eating it, and then where would you be?

He bent down and snapped of a piece of the brickle which served as a sort of cobblestone road, and munched on it as he walked up to the starting line.

Large stands of NPC candies stood there, jumping around.

Oh. This game was a disaster waiting to happen.

Also, there was a large display on the side of the track. It flashed back and forth with rippling transitions between a racing roster and a map of the course, the roster currently had no players on it yet, and the other was the one Turbo was more interested in anyway. The course looked exciting, and he glanced around to see if anyone had left their karts lying around.

No such luck. He sighed. Would probably have to go talk to the food in order to get his bearing in this place.

"Hey there mister. You lost?" asked a girlish voice behind him.

Turbo turned around, and saw a young girl, about nine-ish by design. She had a green hoodie. Paper-cup skirt, and black hair mostly pulled back into a ponytail. Small bits of candy were stuck in her hair.

As soon as he turned around, the girl shrieked and stumbled backwards. She began to glitch, popping up here, there, everywhere.

"whoa!" cried Turbo, spinning around trying to keep track of her. He was fast, but not teleport spam fast.

She now stood her ground solidly in front of him. Looking cool and determined.

"Hello to you too." said Turbo.

"pretty polite for trying to kill me." said the girl. "TWICE."

Turbo wracked his memory for any encounter with the girl since being plugged in. He hadn't had any, and thus no chance to kill her. However, if she were as annoying as her voice precluded...

"Not yet." said Turbo.

"Oh I think you did." she said.

"I was just plugged in this morning. I've never seen you before." said Turbo.

She looked quizzically at him. "name King Candy mean anything to you?" she asked.

"no." he said.

"up up down down left right left right A B start?" she asked.

"what?"

"know anything about game code?"

"not extensively."

She eyed him warily.

"look, if you don't believe me ask Fix-It Junior." said Turbo, sighing. His previous console was apparently infamous, despite it being unplugged due to glitching. Speaking of which... "No offense or anything," he began "but you're a little... A LOT... Glitchy."

The girl nodded. "that's my power." she said.

"your power?" asked Turbo. "looks an awful lot like a bug."

"funny choice of words you got there." said the girl.

What?

"so... What are you doing here?" she asked.

"doing a study on the different ways you get interrogated in different games." said Turbo.

"really?"

"No. Just wanted to see what you've got here." he spread his hands, indicating the world around him.

"well don't try anything stupid." the girl crossed her arms.

"Are you all paranoid or just some of you?"

"are you always this rude?"

"are you always this annoying?"

"you can leave if you want."

"or we could settle this."

"how?"

Turbo smirked, glancing at the racetrack.

"you're on." said the girl.

Yes! Turbo watched as she went off, presumably to find her kart and one he could borrow. "what's your name, kid?" he asked.

"President Vanellope." said the girl.

"president?" asked Turbo.

"problem?"

"just doesn't seem the kind of game with a president ruling over it, that's all." said Turbo.

"well, I'm programmed to be a princess." admitted Vanellope. "but I hate it. And I want a democracy."

"well then..." said Turbo.

"you comin?" Vanellope waved him over.

Turbo followed, they went inside a large garage, rows upon rows of karts, made entirely of candy, resided inside.

Vanellope hopped into one which looked like every decoration available had been unceremoniously dumped on it. But she seemed comfortable in it, and Turbo could tell that was the one she had connected to.

"Here. You can take Taffyta's." she pointed to a nearby kart.

He hopped in, and familiarized himself with it. It's was sugary, it was girly. But as he tested the gas pedal, he could tell it packed a punch.

They pulled out, lining up at the start. An automatic countdown began, a cartoony number hovered in the air in front of them, changing as it turned.

5

4

3

2

1

GO!

With a screech of wheels, they were off. The scenery whipped by them, ever changing, the road curving erratically.

Both racers were in love with it, the rush of adrenaline, the whipping wind. Each was in their element. It was a part of them.

The whipped around curves, neck in neck with each other.

"hey Turbo!" yelled Vanellope. "eat my powdered sugar!" she swerved down a shortcut, Turbo not having the time to follow her.

No matter.

A few moments later, she launched back onto the track ahead of him. Turbo was so focused on this he wasn't paying much attention to the overall landscape.

Big mistake.

POW! Something large and heavy collided with him, sending him spinning off course.

Gumballs of death rolled back and forth across a curved valley.

He stared at it. They let KIDS race in this game?

He swerved out of the way as another one headed for him. Vanellope was now WAY ahead of him. He stepped the gas pedal to the floor.

He slowly caught up as they continued their cross-country race. Road coiling around mountains, over plains, through tunnels, through itself. They finally reached a mountain peak area made of ice cream, once again even.

Vanellope was getting nervous now, and pressed a little ahead.

They shot into a tunnel as the road hung suspended in midair. "I'm not even TRYING you know." taunted Turbo.

They burst through the entrance of the tunnel, and that was when the problem started.

The game froze, and began displaying a series of fast-paced corrupted images. Turbo was seized with a sudden irrational fear, a burning hate, and the color green. Vanellope was literally in two places at once.

As suddenly as it had started, the game unfroze and the two shot off.

They glanced nervously at each other, as if asking the other if what they had seen had really been there.

They reached the final stretch, and crossed the finish line. They each got shakily out of their karts, not even bothering to see who had won and tease the other about it.

"was that normal?" asked Turbo, taking off his helmet to reveal a horrible case of jet black hat hair.

"no..." said Vanellope. "and that was where..." she stopped.

"where what?" Turbo brushed himself off. He still felt a little laggy.

"It's a long story... Not sure if I'm the one to tell ya..." replied Vanellope, distracted and pixelating.

"who is?" he asked.

"Stinkhead."

"who?"

"Ralph. He's in Felix's game."

Turbo nodded. "I'll stop by, then." he said. "though I think I might go back to my own game a while first." he shoved the helmet back on. He felt sick, but didn't know why.

He set off on his way.

"Hey, Turtle-Time." said Vanellope.

"excuse me?" Turbo turned around.

"Thanks for the race." she smiled.

He smiled back. "You too."


	4. Double troubles

**Hello again! First off, thank you for the continued feedback. I love every single one of you!  
****The Portal reference was absolutely acciden- _I MEAN_ I totally meant to do that! (Though I've listened to that song enough that that probably IS where it came from). The TV Tropes reference was also intentional.  
Sorry for the shortness of the chapter compared to the others, but hey, two update days in a row is not SO bad?  
Anyhoo... Just keep doing what you're doing (reading, reviewing, etc), and I'll do my best to keep doing what I'm doing (Writing, updating, etc), and stop living up to my penname...  
Did I mention I love you all?**

In the short time it had taken to get out of Sugar Rush, cross Game Central Station, and get onto the next train for his own game, Turbo had felt exponentially worse.

He'd taken off his racing helmet, holding it in front of him in case he had to vomit. Could he vomit? He didn't know. He hoped he could so he could get it over with.

Actually, no, he didn't. He didn't want to ruin his helmet.

The train pulled into his game, and he felt comfortably at home with the sudden warmth of the bright sun. The scent of baking pavement and burnt rubber was carried by a heavy breeze. He took a deep breath in and out.

Suddenly, two arms were clapped around his shoulders he glanced to the side, saw a blue clad racer, and glanced to the other side, only to find his mirror image.

"Hey." Said the one on the right.

"We were wondering where you went." Said the other.

"We went to Fix-It's game."

"You weren't there."

"We thought you had abandoned us, didn't we Shift?" Teased righty.

"We were heartbroken, me and Piston." Said the other, Shift. Clutching his chest dramatically with his free hand.

"Completely and utterly crushed."

Turbo gave a queasy smile. "Well I guess I'll stay." He said. "If you INSIST."

"We do!" Cried Piston.

"Well then that's settled." Turbo put his helmet back on.

"Goodness, are you alright?" Asked Shift, noticing his wearied gamemate.

"He does look a bit pasty." Said Piston.

"That's from the design team." Pointed out Shift. "But you DO seem a little out of it. You doing okay, Turbo?"

Turbo nodded. "Fine…" He said. "Just got a little disoriented in that sugar racing game."

"YOU?" Said Piston in disbelief. "Disoriented in a racing game?"

"It wasn't the race!" Turbo defended. "Just some sort of bug in the game. I don't know WHAT it was…"

"Oh… Right, right, a bug." Said Shift with mock understanding, and winked at his twin.

"Shuttup…" muttered Turbo.

"It's okay, buddy." Said Piston. "We wont give you TOO much grief about it."

Turbo sat squarely down on a patch of grass, sliding out from underneath the arms of the twins. He flopped backwards and closed his eyes. The heavy, almost waterlogged feeling he had gotten in Sugar Rush was still on him. He waited for some miracle of his game to lift it from him.

"You're really out for the count, huh?" Asked Piston.

"Yes." Said Turbo.

"Anything we can do?" Asked Shift.

"Let me die…" Replied Turbo. "Eugh… It'll pass." He reassured, noticing the way they glanced at each other. "So where did you two end up going?"

"Oh, hopped into about a half-dozen games." Said Piston.

"First we went off to Tappers."

"Being told that's where you go to meet people."

"Then we decided to meet up with you and went to Fix-It Felix Jr."

"But you'd already left."

"Shame on you."

"So we hung around with those guys a little while,"

"Then went to whatever game had that hedgehog in it… what was it called?"

"Sonic the Fighters."

"Thank you, Sonic the Fighters."

"And pretty much just poked our heads into as many games as we could after that."

"Didn't get to Sugar Rush though."

"No. Say, did you eat anything there?"

"Just a piece of the road." Admitted Turbo.

"Anything else?"

"No." Said Turbo. In truth he'd picked a sprinkle off the car but that wasn't a big deal.

"You sure?"

"Could be what's put you out of the count."

"I told you, it was some bug that happened in the middle of the racetrack." Said Turbo. "It was… the whole game went corrupt." He paused, remembering the feeling. There was something else, too. Like a darker version of his own mind… As he tried to focus on it, it slipped away, and with it the sick feeling he had had.

He sat up, looking around. "That was strange." He said.

"What?" Asked Shift.

"That… whatever it was, it's gone now." He said.

"Well, that's a good thing, isn't it?" Asked Piston.

"Yes it is." Turbo stood up, happy to feel like himself again. "I'm back in the game!" He announced, spinning around. "You two better watch yourselves out on the track today." He grinned.

"Oh yeah?" Shift crossed his arms.

"Oh yeah."

"Well, now we've GOT to beat him." Said Piston.

"Hey, which of us is the one with their name on the side of the cabinet?" Pointed out Turbo.

"That was a mistake." Teased Shift. "Obviously we're the most important ones."

"Well, you might be," Said Turbo "if you ever won, that is."

"Sorry to disappoint you. But you actually are supposed to drive the other WAY…"

The banter continued between the three of them as they walked, laughing, out of sight.

Once they were gone, a figure flickered into existence on the grassy patch, glitching and pixelating between two forms as his native game restored him.


End file.
